Nanjing finds itself in a car-related crisis these days as taxi drivers and local residents have gone on strike in relation to their valuable vehicles.
The taxi drivers, who convened at Nanjing South station to collectively suspend their service, did so as part of a national effort to unite the industry and have their criticisms heard.
The strike began in Shenyang on 4th January and reached Nanjing on 10th January. Taxi drivers are unhappy about the franchise fees they have to pay to taxi companies.
China Daily told the story of Liu Xingyou, a local taxi driver who works for about 14 hours a day and makes around ¥12,000 a month. However, he has to pay over 50 percent of this salary to the taxi company, ¥7,000 to be exact. In addition, the gas fees are not included in this equation; according to Liu this sees another ¥3,000 disappear each month, leaving the cabbie with only ¥2,000 in actual income. For a 56-hour week, that is simply not enough.
Even more shockingly, Nanjing seems to be one of the leading cities in ripping off their drivers. The city’s almost 12,000 taxis are made available to drivers in return for fees of up to ¥9,000 a month for the latest car models; in comparison drivers in Beijing and Guangzhou only pay about ¥4,000 to ¥5,000, not even considering the fact that both the basic rate and the rate per kilometer are higher in first tier cities such as Beijing and they, unlike Nanjing’s drivers, collect stationery fees when the taxi is not moving due to heavy traffic.
To add to the plight of local taxi drivers, taxi apps such as Didi Dache and Kuaidi have in recent months introduced their “Tuhao Taxi”, as reported by Nanjing Expat. The luxury taxis are in fact not legal taxis at all but rather black cabs and private vehicles, since anyone can sign up to offer the service. This has increased the competition for regular taxi drivers such as Liu and has caused no little indignation among the pros.
China’s Ministry of Transport reacted quickly at least with regard to the latter complaint and banned non-licensed taxis from offering up their services via taxi apps on 8th January. In Nanjing, the local transportation department was already on the case, fining car owners for acting as taxis via Didi Dache’s Zhuanche (specialised taxi) service.
With regards to Taxi franchises, however, little can be done, since licenses for taxi companies have been frozen since the 1990s. Today’s taxi franchises are the big players founded in the ’80s, hence any challenge to their current monopoly would infer serious reformation to the overall system.
Private Car Owners Protest In Nanjing
Elsewhere, private car owners held a mini-protest not far from Wanda Plaza in the west of the city, in front of the Suning Global Trade City Mall, to which the Tianxi International Plaza residence building is attached.
It seems that the shopping centre had managed to take possession of the parking spaces originally meant for residents of the building, which has caused serious issues in recent months as cars parked in the entryway to the building instead. With a banner that read “Black-hearted Suning give me back my parking space” protesters were expressing their anger at losing the spaces, which had undoubtedly been promised during the purchase of their flats.
That Nanjing is facing a space shortage with regards to cars has become obvious especially in recent months, as many local buildings have been rearranging car parks, trying to make more space, but also hiking prices. While in Xinjiekou some overground carparks go as far as charging up to ¥20/hour for the luxury of coming into town with one’s vehicle, even less central carparks opened in recent months are cashing in on the shortage. In one typical example, while it remains possible to park at the World Times Square car park in the Hexi area for ¥5 an hour, recent developments have seen the it shrink in size; while the left over space has been reallocated to form a second parking lot, which charges double this amount, ¥10 an hour. Due to the reduced space, the previous parking space attached to the office buildings is frequently overrun by cars, forcing their owners to find other, infinitely more expensive parking options.
While the parking craze might cause more people to be environmentally friendly by leaving their cars at home, the already cramped Nanjing metro also does not need any extra passengers. The car conundrum continues.
